You've bought the perfect carpet for your home, and now you want to make the most of your investment. You can extend the life of your carpet with proper care and maintenance.

Proper carpet care and maintenance

• Many people don't realize that one of the best things they can do to maintain the life of their carpet is to vacuum it frequently. Vacuum low traffic areas at least once weekly. High traffic areas, especially areas where children and pets spend a lot of time, should be vacuumed at least three times weekly.
• Have your carpet cleaned at least once a year, preferably by a carpet cleaning professional. If you have children and pets, you need to have your carpet cleaned twice a year.
• Clean up spills as soon as possible.

Important tools for cleaning up stains and spills:

• Clean, white absorbent cloth or paper towels. Dyes from colored cloths could stain your carpet.
• Warm, NEVER HOT, water.
• Warm water and mild detergent mixture-1 quart of water with 1 teaspoon of detergent. To make a smaller amount of this solution, use less detergent. Excess detergent can cause your carpet to attract soil, so make sure you don't have too much detergent in your mixture.

Basic steps for cleaning up stains and spills:

• Remove the material that spilled. If it's dry, scoop it up with a spoon. If it's wet use a wet/dry vacuum, then blot it with a clean, white absorbent cloth or paper towels to remove the excess liquid.
• Apply warm water to the stained area, and then blot-NEVER RUB-with a clean white cloth or paper towels. If the water seems to be lessening the stain, repeat until the stain is removed.
• If water has not removed the stain, use a clean white cloth or paper towels to apply a small amount of a warm water and mild detergent mixture to cover the stain (there should only be 1 teaspoon of detergent for every quart of water in the mixture). Let the solution soak in for 5 minutes.
• Blot up the excess moisture and rinse with clean warm water. Then blot up the water with a clean white cloth or sponge. Repeat the rinsing until all the detergent is removed to prevent resoiling.
• Remove remaining moisture with layers of paper towels. Place a non-staining glass or ceramic object over the paper towels to weight them down and leave overnight.
• When the area is dry, vacuum or brush the pile to restore the texture.